Vancouver’s pot shops: Everything you need to know about marijuana dispensaries

theglobeandmail.com
June 10, 2015
By James Keller

Visitors wandering through Vancouver could be forgiven for assuming marijuana is legal in the city: dozens of storefronts have sprouted up in recent years advertising pot for sale under the guise of medicine. The federal Conservative government insists the so-called medical marijuana dispensaries are illegal, but the city is considering regulating them with a new class of business licence that will simultaneously cut down on the number of stores while also offering them an air of legitimacy.

Here's what you need to you know about Vancouver's pot dispensaries and what the city plans to do.

What is a dispensary?
Dispensaries are storefront operations that sell marijuana to customers who say they have a medical need. Some operations require customers to provide medical documentation, such as a note from a doctor or other health-care professional, but others are less strict. The owner of Vancouver’s largest chain has said he will provide up to a gram of marijuana products to any adult who asks, without any medical documents. Several have on-site naturopaths, and at least one allows prospective patients to consult a naturopath via video chat. Unlike the legal medical marijuana system, which provides only dried pot, many dispensaries sell oils, creams, cookies and other products made with marijuana.

Are they legal?
No. The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act makes it illegal to sell pot outside the federal medical marijuana program, which permits a handful of licensed producers to provide the drug through a mail-order system. Medical marijuana dispensaries are selling and obtaining it illegally. Some dispensaries have said they get their supply from home growers who were approved under the old federal system, many of whom have been allowed to continue growing due to an ongoing court case. Still, those authorizations from Health Canada do not allow those home growers to sell the drug to dispensaries.

What has happened in Vancouver?
The City of Vancouver and its police department have taken a hands-off approach to dispensaries, intervening only if there is a risk to the public, such as sales to minors. The police department says dispensaries are a “low priority,” although it has executed search warrants at nine locations. Most of those stores re-opened within weeks.

That reality has allowed the number of dispensaries in the city to explode, to at least 98 today from 14 in 2013, making them more common than Starbucks (the city’s database of business licences lists 91 Starbucks locations). Dispensaries operate openly in all corners of the city, many with sidewalk sandwich boards or bright neon signs advertising medical marijuana for sale.

What is the City of Vancouver proposing?
Despite the city’s previous claims that it had no way to regulate marijuana dispensaries, council is considering a plan to create a special licence category for “marijuana-related” businesses, including dispensaries. The proposed rules would create a system to consult the community before granting licences, impose a licence fee of $30,000 a year, and prohibit dispensaries from operating within 300 metres of schools, community centres or other dispensaries.

The federal Conservative government has strongly opposed the idea of regulating dispensaries. Health Minister Rona Ambrose and Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney wrote councillors a letter in April urging them not to proceed, although the ministers did not say what - if anything - Ottawa would do to intervene.

What about the rest of the country?
Vancouver is unique in the sheer number of dispensaries, but some are operating elsewhere. The Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries released figures in February that listed 21 dispensaries outside B.C., including one in Nova Scotia, four in Quebec, 13 in Ontario, one in Manitoba and two in Alberta. In addition to Vancouver’s dispensaries, the association said at least 35 were elsewhere in B.C.

City councillors in Victoria are considering introducing rules similar to those of Vancouver. Local governments and police departments in other cities such as Burnaby have raided and shut down dispensaries.

How is this related to the federal mail-order system?
Last year, the federal government overhauled the medical marijuana system by establishing a regulated commercial market in which patients order the drug from a list of licensed producers. This legal system is unrelated to the dispensary issue.

What happens next?
The City of Vancouver scheduled a public hearing for Wednesday evening as it considers the proposal, although the idea appears to have the support of the governing Vision Vancouver party. If council adopts the new rules, they could be in place by fall.